She left unsatisfied, and left them in considerable turmoil.
“I can’t decide if they’re worried about being sued—though who’s going to bother?—about getting fined or cited—and I can’t figure out how that would work, exactly—or if they’re guilty they might have abetted a murderer.”
“I think it’s some of all of the above.” Peabody settled into the car. “Do you want the line on Mikki Wendall?”
“I do.”
“The mother had a substance abuse problem that resulted in neglect, unemployment, and eventually eviction for nonpayment of rent. They ended up on the street where the mother did some unlicensed prostitution for food, shelter, and more often illegals. Got herself bashed up a few times and the kid got busted for stealing. CPS finally stepped in, and Mikki ended up in The Sanctuary with the mother doing a short stint and obligatory rehab.”
“Where’d you get all this?”
“From the source, the mother. She d
idn’t put any bows on it, Dallas. She was a junkie, whored herself, let the kid run the streets, encouraged her to steal what she could. She skipped out on the rehab the first round, got busted again, got the shit kicked out of her in jail, and had herself a personal epiphany. Stuck with rehab, did a full ninety days in with follow-up meetings, got a job cleaning offices at night, and worked days in a sweatshop off the books, saved up for an apartment and petitioned to get the kid back.”
“How quick did they pass the kid back?”
“It took the best part of a year, with the mother taking regular pee tests, regular counseling, and CPS visits. It sounds like she was one of the success stories.”
“They’re rare.”
“Yeah, so it stands out. During the year she was saving up, working, getting the supervision, going to meetings, she met this guy. Worked maintenance at the office building where she cleaned. Straight-arrow type, and they ended up cohabbing.”
She shifted. “I ran him just to tie up the ends, and he’s clean. He passed muster with CPS, with the court, and they granted her custody. Kid comes home.”
“Where it doesn’t end up a little happy family.”
“Nope. Kid won’t go to school, won’t pull her weight. Sasses, sneaks out at night, steals from them. The mother found illegals—which she flushed—and a knife hidden in the kid’s room. The knife scares her, but they’re going to stick it out, get more counseling.”
But the kid’s done with that, Eve thought. Done with all of that.
“And the mother finds out she’s pregnant. Sees it as another chance. She’s going to do it right this time. She’s clean, going to stay clean.
“She catches the kid coming in stoned, middle of the night, still has a twist of zoner on her. They fight about it, and the kid runs out, mother runs after her. Tries to pull the kid back upstairs, and the kid shoves her down them.”
“The kid pushed her pregnant mother down the stairs?”
“She didn’t know she was pregnant, but yeah. Left her there, and just kept going. She was hurt pretty bad. I checked on the medical, and she told me straight. It was touch-and-go on the baby for a couple days, pretty touch-and-go all around. And she said she made a choice, and let Mikki go. Hated herself, but she was afraid of her own kid. She didn’t file a Missing Persons, didn’t file charges because she didn’t want the kid sent back to juvie. She said Mikki said they weren’t family, that she had family and she was happy with them, to leave her the hell alone.”
“So she did.”
“Yeah, she did. She spent two weeks in the hospital, another four on doctor’s orders bedrest at home. The guy went out looking for Mikki when he could, but they never saw her again. They’ve got two kids now, a boy about the age Mikki was, and a girl a couple years younger.”
“She fucked the kid’s life.”
“And she knows it. She tried to fix it, Dallas, and she couldn’t. Now she’s got to live with knowing her daughter’s been dead all this time.”
“Mikki didn’t go back to the new home—to HPCCY—so they weren’t the family she spoke of. Shelby, I guess. And the old building where they formed that family. Shelby, DeLonna, and T-Bone. We need to find the other two, dead or alive.”
“They’re off the grid. I can’t track either of them. Records show they were with The Sanctuary, then with HPCCY. DeLonna got into a work/study program at sixteen, then poofed. So unless that’s bogus, she wasn’t one of the remains. T-Bone stayed until he hit eighteen, then just vanished into the city. No data on him after he left.”
“Pass them to McNab,” Eve ordered. “If he can’t find them, I’ll give them to Roarke.”
“I’m all over that. Are you buying this clusterfuck deal with Shelby?”
“I haven’t decided. I can see how it could happen—shoddy, but the kid had some smarts. Timed it when everything was messed up, mixed up, and the doc looked legit if you didn’t look real close. I want to verify the signature. If it’s not his, Jones looks a little clearer on it.”
“You have to wonder why she wanted out all of a sudden, getting better digs and all that.”